"There's a reality that aviation is incredibly expensive," AFSOC head Lt. Gen. Michael Conley said. "So I'm really challenging the team to figure out, what can we do with the things we already have that we haven't done in the past?"
The start-up declined to identify its American customer, but budget documents show that Special Operations Command is investing in counter-UAS technology bearing the “Roadrunner” name.
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
“Is it going to be cost effective? That’s why we have several lines of effort early on and there will be plenty of off-ramp [opportunities] along the way to determine if we move forward” said Col. Ken Kuebler, SOCOMs Fixed Wing chief.
As Russian fighters fly in Libya and Turkey steps up operations in the region, the US just put its new sea base capable to surging Marines and commandos ashore into Crete
“We had owned the air space and the EW spectrum,” said SOCOM acquisition chief James Smith. “I would argue that has already turned. We are in a contested environment, where we have to fight for airspace and EW spectrum. It’s contested.”
"You know, there is no Tony Stark, but the idea is there that in the future, in the operating environment, it's going to be increasingly complex, dynamic and lethal,” Gen. Richard Clarke, head of SOCOM.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
''As we look at the lethality, precision and mobility requirements as examples, we absolutely have to develop them so that they can compete and win with Russia and China,” SOCOM commander Gen. Richard Clarke says.
"We need coders," the Special Operations chief said recently. "We've been having discussions internally that the most important person on the mission is no longer the operator kicking down the door, but the cyber operator."
“And so what's really important to me is what the vendor brings to the table, in terms of their ability to integrate weapons onto a non-developmental platform," said SOCOM acquisition czar Jim Smith.
As counterterrorism missions show no signs of slowing down and civilian casualties always a worry, the commando command is turning to a light, guided munition to chase down fast-moving targets.
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.